Heritage House is like a Sunday meal at grandma’s

There are times when fast food restaurants and trendy eateries just don’t fill the bill and you long for heartier fare served in casual, nostalgically appealing atmosphere.

For those times, do yourself a favor and head out to Heritage House, located at 1304 Eva Street in Montgomery. The off-the-beaten-track restaurant has been serving up homestyle cooking and comfort food to an appreciative legion of fans since 1983.

There’s nothing fancy or pretentious about Heritage House. The setting is laid back and rustic with nice wood chairs and colorful table coverings. The menu is basic food like most of us over 50 grew up with.

Indeed, dining at Heritage House is reminiscent of heading to a family reunion in a large house in a small town. Instead of relatives, the tables are filled with lots of seniors and a blue collar workforce lured by the promise of good food at reasonable prices.

In addition to the extensive menu, Heritage House offers daily specials a chalk board that moves around the dining room to let new arrivals know what’s available. Unless you’re practicing a vegan regimen, there are plenty of options to satisfy tastes young and old.

I chose the chicken fried steak special, $6.99, and my companion opted for the fried catfish special for the same price. Both include choice of two vegetables, salad bar and roll. Tea and soft drinks are available for $1.75 - but be forewarned, the sweet tea is overly sweet. I’d recommend sweetening your own glass to taste.

Heritage House is well known for its generous portion size on chicken fried steak. The lunch special size was sufficient for a midday meal. Some 20 years ago, I recall stuffing myself with a plate-size portion that nearly did me in.

Both the chicken fried steak and the fried catfish were good if not outstanding examples of traditional southern cooking. The fries I ordered were better than expected, although a mistake. As any thinking person knows, chicken fried steak should always be served with a side of mashed potatoes and cream gravy. To heck with cholesterol concerns.

I do think the cream gravy should have been a bit more interesting. I found it rather bland and uninteresting. A bit of doctoring with salt and pepper helped, but I would have preferred a bit more taste.

I really wanted to top the meal off with a portion of cobbler, $2.95, but found myself to full to have any expectation of finishing something I shouldn’t start. Next time.

More than 20 years after my first experience at Heritage House, I find it is still a great place to enjoy good, homestyle cooking at reasonable prices. It’s not fancy or trendy, but it’s a nice place for a change of pace.

And if you have friends and relatives in from out of state, Heritage House is a nice casual place to take them for a low key meal where you can relax, talk and get reacquainted with the way things used to be.